Sport and Ireland: A History
Paul Rouse
Abstract
This book presents a history of sport in Ireland—it is located within Irish political, social, and cultural history, and within the global history of sport. There are aspects of Ireland’s sporting history that are uniquely Irish, but it is a history of play shared with other societies, near and far. This book offers a unique insight into the British Empire in Ireland; it also assesses the relationship between sport and national identity, and the manner in which states make policy in respect of sport. The manner in which sport has been colonized by the media and has colonized it, in turn, is al ... More
This book presents a history of sport in Ireland—it is located within Irish political, social, and cultural history, and within the global history of sport. There are aspects of Ireland’s sporting history that are uniquely Irish, but it is a history of play shared with other societies, near and far. This book offers a unique insight into the British Empire in Ireland; it also assesses the relationship between sport and national identity, and the manner in which states make policy in respect of sport. The manner in which sport has been colonized by the media and has colonized it, in turn, is also examined. It sets out the importance of animals to Irish sport, from horse and dog racing and hunting, to the cocks, bulls, and bears that were involved in fighting and baiting. The text is flavoured with stories: the playing of hurling matches in London in the eighteenth century, to which people paid and which influenced the development of hurling in Ireland; the growth of cricket to become the most important sport in early Victorian Ireland; and the enlistment of thousands of GAA members in the British army during the First World War. The book places Irish sport within the wider world of leisure as it offers a unique day out for many people. Ultimately, it describes how sport in Ireland has been an essential part of community life for centuries, a vital part in the meaning of life for generations time out of mind.
Keywords:
sport,
culture,
Ireland,
media,
football,
athletics,
horse racing,
cricket,
hurling,
cockfighting
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2015 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198745907 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2015 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198745907.001.0001 |
